A Knight A Rogue and An Arch-Mage
by EpicJesus
Summary: Two people meet a wayward mage on a quest to save Tamriel, he is rigid, cynical and a real pain but apparently our only hope of stopping the Oblivion Crisis... (Yeah lame summary whatever I hope you enjoy Please review, all reviewers get cookies :D)
1. Chapter 1

**Hope you enjoy my first Elder Scrolls FF, please drop a review to let me know if I'm just making an ass out of myself :D**

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"No you side-stepped that last blow I saw it!" The old Nord Gukimir exclaimed as he argued with his brother once more.

"Not my fault you're so unbalanced." His brother Geimund replied with a shrug.

Gukimir clenched his fists, "I am not unbalanced you just used a cheap trick!" he growled ignoring the blood running down his arm.

"Only because you make it so easy." Geimund laughed.

"The only one that's easy is your wife." Gukimir said smugly.

Geimund put one hand on his sword hilt and was about to draw it when.

"Ok ok you're both idiots now stop squirming so I can heal this." The commanding voice of a young nord woman said as she wrapped a bandage around the fools arm.

"Yes commander," Both of them said in a defeated tone.

"Good, now until that's healed no more sparring understood?" She asked giving Gukimir a stern look.

The nord sighed, "Yes commander."

She crossed her arms and shook her head, "And enough with the commander garbage Gukimir I'm really getting sick of it."

The nord smiled innocently, "Apologies commander but you will be getting the respect you deserve whether you like it or not."

"Whatever," She sighed and walked out the door, heading down the stairs and out the door.

_Nice to see the clouds have gone._ She noted with a smile at the sky, the West Weald had been returned to its luster after several days of darkness beneath the clouds. It was a peaceful place, The West Weald, home to the Priory of The Nine.

The home of the Knights of The Nine.

The leader of these knights, Joan Areus, had led them all to Galas Malatar and defeated Umaril the Unfeathered. Claiming victory over the Ayleid king and saving the Divines from his wrath.

Since that day the such a short time ago the knights were resting, all taking a time of respite before they would have to rejoin the world of Tamriel and all its problems. That was Joan's plan now that the knights had defeated the Ayleid monster, to help change the world for the better and aid those in trouble throughout the land.

Though it would soon be known to them that cutting themselves off from the world for a month would be a grave mistake...

Joan walked into the chapel and to pray at the Shrine of Talos, and as always she was greeted by the sight of their resident Prophet kneeling before the shrine. The old man had been staying here since the defeat of Umaril and from what the Knights of The Nine gathered he wasn't going to be around much longer.

"Nice to see you at your daily duties," Joan smiled as she approached.

When the Prophet turned to her, of all the things this holy man had displayed when seeing his Divine Crusader, the last thing Joan expected to see was a look of sheer terror.

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly and brushed one of her golden locks aside.

The Prophet looked at her for a moment before smiling, "It seems you are once again needed great knight..."

"Has something happened?" Joan asked quickly, "Did Umaril somehow survive? I'll assemble the knights and we can-"

She was stopped as the Prophet grabbed her hand firmly, "There will be a time and place for the knights to aid Cyrodil's hero," he said smiling still, "But for now they must remain at the Priory..."

Joan was losing her patience quickly, the Prophet was a noble holy man but sometimes his riddles were a serious pain in the ass.

"Tell me what is going on now," She demanded, "Why can I not call upon my knights and who is this new threat?"

The Prophet chuckled, "You seem to be overestimated my esteem for you Divine Crusader."

"Damn you and your riddles old man," Joan scowled, "What are you talking about?"

"You are many things Sir Knight," The Prophet sighed, "You have been given many titles, Ayleid slayer, Divine Crusader, Holy Knight... But-"

The chapel door flung open suddenly causing them both stop and look.

"Commander there is something you need to see now!" Sir Thedret said in a panicked tone.

"What is it Sir Thedret?" Joan asked as she headed towards him and the door.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," He replied heading to the stable where Areldur and Carodus were already mounted and waiting.

"Come we must hurry," The altmer Areldur said hastily, "The others have all gone ahead to scout it out."

Joan nodded and climbed atop her white maned stallion, "Come, I am sick of this suspense." She asserted and donned her Helm of the Crusader.

Carodus nodded and gripped his reigns as Thedret climbed into his own saddle, "This way we'll lead you."

Areldur and Carodus lead the way out of the Priory and through the forest, as they went the sky above changed suddenly. It became a sinister blood-red and filled with smoke.

Like the heavens themselves were on fire...

_What great evil could cause-_

"Over here!" The thick accented voice of Geimund sounded and they altered their course. Coming to a stop atop a hill the overlooked a small cleared out valley below.

"By the Nine..." Joan gasped as she saw the source of the world altering energy.

At the center of the plain stood a wall of fire. No, not a wall, a doorway into a forsaken realm.

The Realm of Oblivion.

"Where did that thing come from?" Joan demanded with on hand already on her blade's hilt.

"I am not sure Commander," Avita began, "It wasn't here last night I know that much."

"Yes I only saw it just this morning while hunting." Brelin added with his bow already in hand.

"Has anything come in or out?" Joan asked fearing what terrors might reside within the gaping beast of a doorway.

"Only those three daedra guarding the entrance," Carodus replied, "I say we take them out and storm the gate."

"I agree," Geimund said and drew his blade, "We took down Umaril we can handle some of these Oblivion rejects."

Joan scoffed, "_I_ took down Umaril," she stated, "And for all we know there is an army on the other side of that gate so we shouldn't go in unless we have some more information on what is going-"

"Excuse me Commander," Areldur interrupted, "I do believe we have a guest." the elf raised his hand and pointed out the tree line on the opposite edge of the portal. There sat a figure wearing a blue hooded cloak to hide their face, the lone being sat atop a black horse with a mage staff in hand.

"Is that a friend or enemy?" Geimund asked.

Joan's brow furrowed, "Not sure, we should go speak with him and see what he knows-" she stopped as the rider took off down the hill at a full gallop towards the gate.

"Well it seems that one doesn't care much for gathering information," Avita said slightly amused.

The figure was only about thirty feet from the daedra when they attacked, the three human sized scamps launched a volley of fireballs at the rider who sent his horse in a different direction while rolling out of the saddle.

The momentum carried the mage into a roll that came to a stop a few feet from the daedra. They hissed and readied their razor sharp claws to tear through this newcomer and defend the gate. Just as one lunged forward the figure jabbed forward with his staff and caught the scamp by his head in th gnarled prongs around the end of the weapon.

Before the scamp could react the mage twisted the staff quickly and broke the scamps neck. Just as the others moved in to attack he turned and smacked one away with the other end of the wood and aimed it at the third.

"Oh great he's going to do magic," Geimund rolled her eyes, "Damnable mages."

Joan was of the same opinion when it came to magic users, she had no strong hatred for them like some nords but wasn't overly fond of their battle tactics. But even with those negative feelings she couldn't help but laugh as lighting erupted from the mage's staff and blasted a hole through the scamp's chest.

The last scamp rushed the mage's flank and was about to pounce when the figure turned quickly and slammed the back side of his fist against the scamp's head. It rolled across the dirt and came to a stop ten feet away.

Whatever guarded that person's fist must have been strong as it somehow managed to smash in the scamps skull.

"Well I think now would be a good time to introduce ourselves." Joan smirked and began trotting down the hill.

"Wait Commandeer we can't just-"

"Shut up Geimund or you're going back to the priory to wait with your brother." She interrupted and continued going, eager to meet the hooded warrior...

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"This is the second gate I've found in the West Weald," The hooded figure said to himself as he looked at the fiery gate to Oblivion that sat only a few feet in front of him, "This is getting worse by the day..."

He turned suddenly at the sound of horses and raised his staff out of instinct, he sighed in relief when he saw the riders.

_Seems those knight finally got their heads out of their asses._ He thought with a smirk.

The obvious leader with winged shoulder pads and winged helm, with the larger shield and bright white stallion rode up ahead of the others and turned the horse sideways.

"About damn time," The hooded man scoffed and turned his back to them, looking at the gate once more, "I need someone to watch the gate while I shut it down and you knights will work great for that."

"Watch your tongue mage," The nord with a loud mouth asserted, "You are speaking to the Divine Crusader, the Champion of the Gods, the Bane of Umaril-"

"I think he's ignoring you," The leading female interrupted and pulled off her helm revealing a women with sharp facial features, long golden hair and blue eyes.

And the mage was indeed ignoring him, instead of paying attention he was idly taking inventory of what potions he carried in his satchel, "Congradulations someone who finally understands."

"Understands what?" The nord asked with an edge in his voice.

"That your title means nothing," the mage scoffed.

"You should learn you place mage!" Thedret jumped in and climbed off his horse with blade drawn.

The mage seemed completely unaffected by the shouting and began to pull off his cloak, revealing a man wearing only sack cloth pants and no shoes, there was a jeweled amulet on his torso and his arms were guarded by a pair of orcish gauntlets.

But it wasn't his apparel that surprised everyone, it was that fact he was an argonian with bright white skin and only one large fin on his head.

"Can you hold onto this for me?" He half asked as he threw the cloak to Thedret, "Damn thing is itchy." he added with his back turned.

"Great so on top of being a mage he's a damn lizard." Geimund grumbled.

Joan rolled her eyes, "So you're in the business of shutting down these gates?"

"Unfortunately," He sighed, "Now are you going to stay here and hold the doorway or am I going to have to do that by myself too?"

Joan looked back at the her knights who all seemed to have the same quizzical look upon their faces that she had.

_This one seemed to know a lot about these gates and if he knows how to shut them down we may be able to help each other._ She thought and eyed over the bare-chested argonian suspiciously.

"Alright I'm going in," She declared and received an immediate uproar of debates from her knights as they all tried to out shout one another and explain how that was a bad idea, "Enough!" Joan ordered and slashed her hand through the air, "The rest of you stay out here, I will accompany this mage lizard inside and shut down the gate."

The mage lizard in question crossed his arms, "That's Arch-Mage lizard to you." he said childishly.

Now the knights were really surprised, even Joan has a shocked look on her face, "Y-You're the new Arch-Mage?" she asked.

"I didn't even know there was a new one." Areldur piped up.

"Hannibal Traven died three weeks ago," The mage said in a grim tone, "I was named successor, that is all you need to know."

Joan was getting sick of this lizards tongue and was debating cutting it out, "I'll be the one to decide what we-"

"You know we could have been halfway to the sigil stone by now if you would stop talking." The argonian smirked.

Joan growled and said, "Fine," she put her helmet back on and drew her divine blade from its sheath, "Come let's put an end to this evil."

The argonian shook his head and walked up to the portal, "If my cloak is dirty when I get back you're all getting an illusion spell that won't wear off for a week."

Joan smirked in amusement and followed, stopping beside him and looking at the gate, "So uh... How do we get in?" she asked awkwardly.

The Arch-Mage sighed and held up one hand, "Watch very carefully knight," he stuck the hand into the portal, "Into Oblivion," he pulled it back, "out of Oblivion, that clear enough?"

Joan scowled, "Do not test my patience lizard." she growled.

He shrugged and took a step closer to the gate, "Well best of luck in their, I won't be keeping an eye on you so try not to get lost."

Joan scoffed, "I can handle myself," she took another step closer and felt a terrible sense of foreboding from the gate, "Uh, by the way, my name is Joan." she said attempting to ease her own tension.

The mage raised an eyebrow, "I'd prefer we kept this formal, so I don't feel bad when you get yourself killed," he smirked and prepared to step through, "But just so you can tell the Divines who's saving Tamriel when you die," he started smugly, "I am Milos."

With that he stepped through. Joan hesitated for a moment before following into the realm of Oblivion.

The knights watched their commander go with growing dread.

Avita placed a hand on her amulet and muttered, "May the Divines guard them both..."

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**First chapter woohoo yeah! So I hope you enjoy, please review and tell me what you think and whether or not I should continue :D**


	2. Chapter 2

Joan gasped as her eyes were locked upon the hellish landscape surrounding them. It was beyond any terror she had seen since becoming a knight. The flaming pits of lava. The sky of fire and smoke. The terrible shrieks and roars that emanated from the far off islands around them. The entire scene unnerved her. _Her,_ the great knight that had faced down an Ayleid king, was now far more tense than she ever had been in her whole life. The worst of it though? That was the tower.

Off in the distance mixed with a vail of smoke and ash was a massive tower that scrapped the sky. It seemed to loom over the entire landscape and brought and eerie feeling of being watched upon her. She could only imagine what kind of horrors took place there...

"First time is always rough," Milos sighed and reached into his bag.

"How are you not at least a bit off put by this place?" she asked suddenly questioning the lizard's sanity.

He pulled out a small bottle and handed it to her, "I got used to it, drink that it'll calm your nerves and hopefully prevent any of the poisonous plants from killing you."

Joan nodded and drank it gratefully, "So... You've done this before." it really wasn't a question.

Milos nodded and looked towards the tower, "More times than I would like to admit," he pointed at the behemoth spire, "That is our goal, at the top of those towers is a black stone known as the sigil stone." he explained and started walking, "It anchors the gate and keeps it open, once removed the gate will close."

"And what about us?" Joan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We will be transported back outside," He replied shrugging, "Don't ask me how it works as I understand it very little myself." he added looking up at the tower with a slight glimmer in his eyes.

Joan raised an eyebrow, "You sound as though you are interested in the way these daedra work." she observed.

Milos sighed and closed his eyes, "I am a mage," he said simply, "I will always have a need to explore that which I do not yet know."

It was then that Joan realized just how old this lizard really was. The lines under his eyes and the sides of his face made it obvious that he could be counted among the elderly in Cyrodil. But from what she saw earlier he was far beyond the physical limitations of a man his age.

"We should get moving," He said snapping her out of his thoughts, "The longer we wait the sooner more daedra show up."

Without another word he started the trek across the ash covered earth. Joan followed keeping her blade in hand and a weary eye scanning the surroundings. It was unnerving to be in that constant state of tension. She hadn't felt this way about a battle since she marched upon Garlus Malatar. And even that place hadn't put her on edge like this.

_Seems that potion didn't really help._ She thought in dismay.

Suddenly a lightning bolt jumped into her field of view and went into the air. She followed the trail only to see the bolt strike a dremora killing him instantly. It tumbled over the edge of the rock and landed a few feet from them both.

Joan looked at the weapon lying a few feet away to see a twisted red and black bow with a small quiver of arrows. She looked at Milos who had his arms crossed and a less than approving look on his face.

"Pay. Attention." And he continued onward, not really caring if she followed or not.

Joan followed quickly and decided that she needed something to quell that tension this hellscape invoked on her. And that would either come from battle or from talking. Unfortunately for her the only option she had was the latter.

"How long have you been at this?" She asked after taking a deep breath.

Milos kept walking and replied, "Almost a month."

"So when the gates started opening?"

"Aye," he nodded as they started to scale a hill. At the top rested the doorway to the tower and undoubtably more daedra.

"So... You know how this started?"

"Aye," Milos said simply. He reached the top first and ran forward when he spotted two scamps and a dremora wielding a very jagged axe.

He ducked under a fireball and tackled the dremora. The disfigured being tried to grab at the argonian's throat with the intention of ripping it out but Milos grabbed his wrist and pushed it in the wrong direction until the bone snapped at his elbow making him howl in pain.

The two scamps were almost upon the mage when Joan charged. She had her sword in one hand raised and shield out in front of the other. The scamps turned attention on her firing a simple flame spell that was absorbed by her enchanted shield. The impish beasts were taken off guard and she slammed into them both with her shield. As one fell Joan stabbed it through the chest with her divine blade. As the other got up and tried to lunge at her she turned and bashed its face in with her shield before stomping on its skull with her steel boot.

Milos and the dremora were still grappling for dominance. The child of oblivion hissed and dug his clawed gauntlet into the argonian's exposed shoulder. Milos growled in pain but finally managed to get a good position. He raised one of his fists high and brought it down hard on the dremora's face. The first blow stunned him. The second broke his nose and weakened his resistance. Upon the third blow the skull gave way and Milos' armoured fist went through.

With the daedra dead Milos stood up and sighed. Blood ran from his right shoulder due to the wound the dremora inflicted. His left hand was also coated in the warm red substance the now spilled over the ground from the dremora's face.

"Damn," Joan smirked as she cleaned her blade, "You got tough hands."

Milos shrugged, "That or the enchanted gauntlets, take your pick."

"Enchanted?" She repeated looking at the orcish gauntlets, "With what?"

"A spell I made myself," He smirked proudly, "I call it them the stone fist gauntlets."

"And why is that?" Joan asked crossing her arms.

"They dull pain and make the bones in my fingers and wrists almost unbreakable," He explained healing his shoulder with a minor restoration spell, "Comes in handy being a hand to hand expert."

Joan almost laughed, "Why would a mage learn hand to hand fighting?"

Milos scoffed and walked up to the door, "I am not so arrogant as to believe my abilities do not have limits, I am also well versed in the fighting with a staff, makes an excellent bludgeoning tool."

"I think I'll take your word for it." She rolled her eyes in slight disbelief and followed.

Milos stopped and the door and turned to her, "Ok, inside there will be a lot of daedra," he explained like he was talking to a child, "And I mean _a lot_ of daedra. Our objective is the top of the tower so try to be quiet and do not stop for anything unless you want the scamps to make a meal out of you."

Joan scowled and gave him an icy glare, "My patience is wearing thin with your attitude lizard."

Milos shrugged and turned back to the door, "My 'attitude' is going to keep you alive, feel free to ignore my warnings though. Not my problem if you get yourself killed." He opened the door and stepped into the tower.

Joan reluctantly followed.

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"I told you to be quiet!" Milos hissed after Joan had stabbed a dremora through the chest.

It was a silent kill but the second she pulled her blade out the daedra warrior tumbled down a set of stairs making all kinds of attention grabbing noise.

She winced as the loud clang of metal continued all the way down, "Sorry but none of your spells would have been any quieter." she pointed out defensively.

"You could have just snapped his neck," He retorted and pulled open another strange door that led out to yet another balcony like overhang with a ramp leading to the next floor.

"The intruders!" A dremora wearing black robes shouted in its strange feral voice.

The tower resounded with loud snarls and hissing as the denizens previously avoided all jumped into action and began rushing up the tower passages.

"Kill them!" The daedric mage shouted and cast a fireball at the two out-of-place companions.

Joan raised her shield and Milos formed a ward in front of himself. The fireball exploded and did little damage aside from some burns to Joan's armor. Milos lowered the barrier and fired a snow ball spell that hit the dremora and chilled his body right into deaths cold embrace.

"Come we must make haste to the sigil stone!" Milos hissed and ran up the ramp and pointed to the ceiling where the red beam of fiery energy went through a strange red membrane substance that almost looked alive, "The stone will be in there."

Joan followed quickly, refusing to look back as she heard the door open and snarls behind them. Milos blasted open the next door with a bolt of lightning and ran into the circular room. In the center of it the beam of energy touched a pitch black sphere.

"KILL THE INTRUDERS!" The dremora commander shouted and drew his massive daedric claymore sword with both hands.

"So what now?" Joan asked stepping into her fighting stance.

Milos looked back as the door opened and six scamps along with three dremora mages ran in. Adding that to the commander and his two guards made them outnumbered twelve to two. He also had to count the innumberable amount of daedra waiting outside.

"Ok you get the sigil stone I'll handle the reinforcements." He ordered knowing the knight couldn't fight off the mages attacks and the scamps brutal claw assault at once.

"There are probably more waiting to swarm in you can't handle that all by yourself!" She replied as the daedra closed in.

"We don't have a choice you fool now move!" He raised his staff and fired a lightning bolt into the horde.

That's when the chaos began.

The bolt struck one scamp and killed it instantly making the others scatter for cover while the mages began launching fireballs at Milos who raised up a ward just in time to catch them before turning and grabbing the boldest scamp trying to catch him off guard by the neck and crushing its windpipe.

Joan rushed up the gnarled black spike stairs and engaged the daedra warriors defending the stone. The commander's guards attacked her first. Rushing forward with axes in hand. She raised her shield and caught one axe while blocking the other with her sword.

Before they could continue the attack she smashed her shield into ones face making him recoil. Joan dropped the shield and pulled the mace from her belt. With one mighty swing she crushed in the daedra's head with her divine weapon. She followed up by stabbing the second guard in the throat with her sword before turning to face the commander.

On the floor below Milos was dodging fire balls from the dremora and claws from the scamps. He had killed more than seven of them now but more flooded into the room from elsewhere in the tower while the mages stayed out of his way. The fatigue was getting to him and the lack of magika was making his spells less effective.

A scamp managed to jump on his back and dug its nails into his back. He hissed in pain and slammed his back against one of the jagged wall spikes impaling his impish assailant. He aimed the lightning staff at his enemies and prepared to fire but nothing came out of his enchanted weapon.

"Blast it this thing is out of juice," He hissed knowing he had no time to recharge to item. Milos raised the staff in a more defensive position has he would now have to use it as a bludgeoning tool.

"You die now mortal!" A dremora mage chuckled darkly and began charging a lighting spell to end him, "I will make your head a trophy."

Milos smirked and put the staff down deciding on a more impractical approach. "Come on then beast and see if you can claim your prize." he raised his armoured fists.

Joan had to use both hands to block the daedra's powerful swing coming down on her. Her arms started shaking and the blade was pushed closer to her. She had to act fast or she would be cleaved in two. Suddenly she realized he wasn't wearing a helmet.

But she was.

Joan pulled her head back before throwing it forward as fast as possible smashing the front of her helm into the dremora commander's mouth. He hissed and stumbled back while blood flew from his maw.

Joan recovered quickly and charged with her mace held high. She brought it down twice on his skill to make sure he stayed down before turning to the stone.

The lightning bold left the dremora mage's hands and raced towards Milos. He jumped sideways to dodge but the blast still grazed his ribcage burning the skin and drawing blood. He ignored it and rushed the mage uncaring about the twenty other daedra behind him.

Milos had already planned every strike in his head to deal with the three mages. The first would be stuck across the jaw then would follow-up with a skull smashing knee. Then he would sweep out the legs of the second before crushing his sternum with a hard stomp. The third would be ended by a punch to the stomach followed by a roundhouse kick to the side of head as he doubled over from pain.

He enacted the moves at abnormal speeds to match how quickly he prepared the moves in his head.

Joan moved towards the stone unsure of what to do next. She knew that the stone needed to be removed to shut the gate but not entirely sure if she should just grab it or wait for Milos. He did have much more experience and maybe even some kind of enchantment to protect him from the stones dark energy.

_Wait a minute,_ She looked over the edge, "MILOS!"

Joan's jaw dropped inside her helm as she watched the old argonian mage rush the dremora. She was even more shocked by how fast he took them down. The first was cracked hard across the jaw and stumbled back but before he could recover Milos grabbed him by the sides of the head and smashed his knee into the dremora's face. He swept the legs out of the second and stomped hard on his sternum crushing it inward and making the beastly man slowly suffocate. The final mage was ended when Milos lunged forward and punched him in the stomach making the mage double over before spinning around and kicking him in the side of the head causing a sickening snap to ring through the air.

The only problem was the twenty other daedra waiting to attack with tooth and nail. The old white argonian glared at Joan.

"REMOVE THE STONE!"

Joan didn't hesitate as she realized Milos only had seconds before the daedra torn he apart. She grabbed the stone from the pillar of fiery energy and pulled it out. It made a strange noise and a low vibration in her hand.

Suddenly the room seemed to catch fire around her! The daedra on the floor below were screeching in defeat as everything went white.

The two of them reappeared on the outside of the gate which crumbled around them. The sky turned black with storm clouds and rain poured down overhead. Joan's knights looked at them in shock before breaking out into an ecstatic cheer for their Divine Crusader.

"Yes yes we won hurrah cheers all around," Milos grunted sarcastically while clutching his injured side.

Joan looked at him saw the blood running down his back and side, "Gods above!" she gasped, "You need healing now!"

He scoffed and picked up his staff to lean on, "Congratulations you can spot a fatal wound," he took a step forward before stumbling, Joan lunged forward and wrapped an arm around his sides to steady him accidentally putting a hand on his wound, "By the Hist that hurts!" he cursed.

"Come we must get back to the priory."

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**YAY CHAPTER 2 :D**

**Please review and let me know what you think.**


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